Wholesale orders staged for review
Emailed purchase orders are read, matched to customers and products, and set up in Katana for a person to confirm.
Katana integration consulting
Connect Katana to the rest of your business.
Katana runs production, inventory, purchasing and sales orders for many makers and growing manufacturers. We build the connections and tools around it, so wholesale orders, supplier paperwork and shop floor updates reach Katana without being retyped.
Keep it, then extend it
What Katana does well, and where teams outgrow it.
Where Katana shines
- Production planning in plain view
- Close to online selling
- Your team controls access
Where teams hit the limits
- Wholesale orders by emailRetail buyers and distributors still send purchase orders as PDFs and spreadsheets, and someone keys each line.
- The warehouse and the shop driftA 3PL or a separate warehouse ships orders, and stock and tracking need someone to copy them back.
- Reports outside KatanaCost per batch, margin by channel and supplier delays usually mean exports and a spreadsheet.
What changes
The same week, with the connection.
Today
- The production manager finds missing materials the morning a run is scheduled to start.
- The founder retypes retail partner EDI orders into Katana and sends shipping notices by hand.
- The purchasing lead spots a supplier's changed price only when the invoice arrives.
With the connection
- The production manager gets material gaps each morning and works them with purchasing before the run.
- Retail partner orders arrive as Katana sales orders, and shipping notices go back. The founder checks them.
- Supplier confirmations are compared to the PO. The purchasing lead reviews price or date changes right away.
What we build around it
Connecting Katana to the rest of your work.
3PL and stock in step
Orders go to your 3PL, and shipments and stock counts come back to Katana without anyone retyping them.
Supplier updates checked
Confirmations and invoices from suppliers are compared to the purchase order, with price or date changes flagged.
Shortages before they stop a run
Planned production checked against materials and incoming orders, with gaps sent to purchasing each morning.
EDI orders from retail partners
Orders from larger retail customers translated into Katana sales orders, with shipping notices sent back.
Reports across Katana and accounting
Production, stock and sales figures combined with accounting data in one scheduled report.
How it starts
What happens after you reach out.
You work directly with a senior builder from the first call to launch, not a hand-off to a junior team. How we work
Before we start
What we need from you.
- Someone on your team with admin rights sets up our access. We walk them through it.
- You choose what the connection can see and change, and you can switch it off at any time.
- We build and test on sample data before touching live records.
- Depends on your Katana plan. We confirm it first.
Technical details for your IT team
A Katana user with the Manage API keys and webhooks permission (account owners have it by default) goes to Settings, API and adds a new key with a name (see Katana's guide). The key can see and change what your Katana account holds, so we ask for one key per connection, named for what it does. Deleting the key cuts the connection off. Katana ties outside connections to the plan you are on, and its plan names have changed, so we confirm what your plan includes before quoting a build. Selling through Shopify? See our Shopify page, and our QuickBooks page for the books.
FAQ
Common questions.
Do we have to replace Katana?
No. Katana stays where you plan production and track stock. We build around it and connect what it doesn't reach.
Doesn't Katana already connect to Shopify and QuickBooks?
It does, and you should use those built-in connections. Custom work makes sense for the steps they don't cover, like wholesale orders by email, a 3PL or retail EDI.
Does our Katana plan allow outside connections?
It depends on your plan. We check what yours includes before we quote, and tell you if a different plan would be worth it.
What access do you need from us?
A key created by your account owner or a user they allow, used only for this connection. You can delete it at any time.
Are you a certified Katana partner?
No. We're an independent integration consultant and development team. We build with Katana's official developer tools and approved access, using the access your team grants, and we work alongside your Katana admin or implementation partner rather than replacing them.
Sources
- Katana developer docs: Getting started
- Katana developer docs: Authentication
- Katana developer docs: Webhooks
- Katana support: Manage API keys and webhooks permission
- Katana: Pricing plans
Facts checked against the vendor's own documentation, November 2026. Names are trademarks of their owners. Inkwell is independent and not affiliated with these companies.
Partner with Inkwell
Tell us how you use Katana today.
A few sentences is plenty. We'll tell you what we'd connect first, and whether a ready-made app already does the job.